Chile Election Turnout Hits New Low

  • Eight candidates vied for votes from across political spectrum
  • Vote count fell to 46.7 percent of the electorate, Servel says

A dog waits while a voter casts a ballot in a booth during the presidential election in Santiago, on Nov. 19, 2017. 

Photographer: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg
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Chilean voters were spoiled for choice in Sunday’s presidential election, with candidates ranging from a right-wing, religious fundamentalist to someone who sounds suspiciously like a Stalinist. That choice failed to spark a revival in voter participation.

A lower percentage of the voting age population cast a ballot in the first round of the election than at any time since the return of democracy in 1990.